Today I bought an Orchid. Maybe it was the panic syndrome that’s sweeping through the nation or maybe I just thought it was pretty. I’ve dwelled on buying a plant for my room for sometime and just never saw the right one or justified the cost. Of all times, this was probably NOT the time for it. My job is suspended, we have no information on how we’ll be looked after financially just yet… oh yea, and I just invested most of personal savings into this theatre company. But the cost was strangely justified in the moment and the buyers guilt has not set in, so I think it was the right thing to do. It’s a trialing time, and I can say with absolute certainty that supermarkets are most definitely a place to avoid if you can. Smaller corner shops and small businesses, appear to be better stocked, more in need of your custom, and much much calmer. I’ve tried shopping several times in my local branded supermarket and every time my chest feels like it is collapsing and I can feel the tears behind my eyes – uncertainty, and seeing this apocalyptic world in action – something I truly thought I’d only see on a 90-minute screening while tucked up with candles, popcorn and a glass of red (a good Montepulciano for your records for our celebrations when this is all over). Every shop returns little success; but I’m not worried about that. I think I worry for the force of uncertainty that is driving these actions. I’ve frequented that supermarket more times in the past week than I have in a year of living here – unknowingly I’ve gotten caught up in this sweeping fear – returning in a day hoping to find better news, hoping to see the end of the panic buy. But let’s not digress. There is a sense of hope with a living thing – much like the stories of rejuvenation of our planet - that things will clear up and something better is waiting for us. A perfect white blossom which overlooks my troubled mind as I stare onto my high street, busier than I’ve ever seen it before. People sent home from work and schools but so blatantly unaware of the effects of this sweeping force, as if it’s a fairytale (a dark, original Brothers Grimm kind of fairytale). If anything, this orchid is something beautiful to look at. And I can take some peace in the thriving nature of artistry and beauty.
